By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The motto that emerged this season for Lamar’s boys basketball team goes something like this: if we can stay in it and get to the fourth quarter, the game’s ours.
The Tigers proved it again on Monday night by entering the final eight minutes in a 49-all deadlock with visiting New Heights Christian and then outscoring the Cougars 21-11 to earn a thrilling 70-60 victory in the Class 3 sectionals.
“That’s the way we’ve been all year,” Lamar coach Heath Heckadon said. “All year we’ve kind of stayed and stayed and in the fourth quarter we have that extra gear, and we just seem to take over.”
“In about every single basketball game we’ve trailed at one point, especially in the first half,” said senior Alex Wilkerson. “We’ve learned this season that we’re a second half team so when it comes to that second half we just turn it on and go and especially in that fourth quarter. Our seniors knew it could be their last game and they made it count.”
Lamar, 17-10, will face a 23-4 Thayer team in the state quarterfinals on Friday.
But on Monday, the most pressing need for Heckadon was a sharper pair of scissors. With Lamar winning a sectional for the first time since 1974, the players and coaches made quick work of cutting down the nets––after Heckadon retrieved some better scissors.
“It’s awesome,” Heckadon said, one of the nets draped around his neck. “The kids all deserve it. We have absolutely amazing kids here at Lamar. They’re so easy to coach. Words can’t express what this means to them, what it means to me. Man, it’s so fun. I don’t know what else to say.”
New Heights, a state quarterfinalist in Class 2 last year, entered Monday with a 21-6 record and led the majority of the game. The Cougars jumped out to a 9-1 lead, but the Tigers fought back to take a 19-18 lead on a 3-pointer by Wilkerson with 4:26 left in the first half. The game was tied at 21, 23 and 25 before New Heights took a 29-25 lead into the break.
Two 3-pointers by junior Ben Schumacher gave New Heights a 35-27 lead early in the third, and they held a 43-36 advantage with 2:54 left in the quarter after junior Cannon Miller scored and tacked on a free throw after he was fouled. Another Wilkerson 3-pointer in the final minute tied the game at 49.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Lamar retook the lead on a layup by senior Luke Tabakian a minute into the fourth, but another Schumacher 3-pointer made it 54-52 Cougars a few seconds later. The Tigers got the advantage for good after sophomore Terren Williams and senior Trey Pittsenbarger scored consecutive baskets.
New Heights went two-and-a-half minutes without scoring before senior Jayce Walker made a 3-pointer to bring the visitors to within 58-57 with 4:24 left to play.
Wilkerson came up with a steal and was fouled with 3:08 on the clock and he made the first free throw for a 59-57 lead. Seconds later, he dove on the floor for a loose ball to force another turnover, and that set up a put-back from Williams for a 4-point lead.
After a New Heights free throw, Pittsenbarger converted a 3-point play for a 6-point lead and then, after another Cougars turnover, Wilkerson scored on a reverse layup to make it 66-58.
The visitors were without a field goal for the final 4:24 of the game. They got within 6 on two free throws by senior Logan Decker, but Pittsenbarger and Wilkerson made two more and then junior Talon Timmons scored the final layup for Lamar with 31 seconds to go.
“We learned that we could do this about three weeks ago and since then our team has turned it on,” said Wilkerson, with the net from the other goal around his neck. “To go out and do this in front of these fans…this place has never been like this before, at least when I’ve been alive. It was a great blessing and there’s nobody else I’d rather do this with than this coach and this team.”
Wilkerson said the difference in the game was the home student section and crowd, and added, “our coaching is great, he’s on us all the time yelling at us like a lunatic. He pushes us every single day and helps us go.”
“It’s all to the kids,” Heckadon said. “I can’t do this without my assistant coach (Kade Hollingshed) and then the boys, they deserve everything. Lamar has great kids and nobody can doubt that. They’re the best kids in the world.”
Wilkerson paced Lamar with 21 points, Pittsenbarger scored 16, Williams scored 11, Timmons scored 9, Tabakian scored 7, junior Eli Ngugi scored 4 and sophomore Jude Harris scored 2.
For New Heights, junior Adam Stanton scored 14, Schumacher scored 12, junior Jadon Smith scored 9, Decker and Miller each scored 7, sophomore Max Long scored 6 and Walker scored 5.
